1. Field of the Invention
The present invention involves semiconductor chip packaging, and in particular involves semiconductor packages that include at least one semiconductor chip and at least one device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical ball grid array (BGA) semiconductor package includes a semiconductor chip mounted on an interconnective substrate. The substrate may be a glass-fiber filled organic laminate with electrically conductive circuit patterns on opposed upper and lower surfaces of the substrate. Bond wires electrically couple the semiconductor chip to the circuit patterns of the upper surface of the substrate. Vias through the substrate electrically couple the upper and lower circuit patterns. Conductive interconnection balls are fused to the circuit patterns of the lower surface of the substrate, and serve as input/output terminals of the package. A hardened encapsulant material covers the semiconductor chip, the upper surface of the substrate, and the bond wires. A disadvantage of such a package is that the package height is too great for certain applications.
In some applications, additional electronic components, such as one or more discrete devices, e.g., transistors, batteries, oscillators, optical components, resistors, capacitors, and inductors, are included in the semiconductor package with the semiconductor chip. The discrete device typically is taller than the semiconductor chip. Accordingly, such packages can have an even greater package height than the single chip package mentioned above. The height of such a semiconductor package is too great for certain applications.
Accordingly, there is a need for a thin semiconductor package for applications where the semiconductor package includes at least one semiconductor chip and at least one discrete device.
Disclosed herein are exemplary embodiments of semiconductor packages including at least one semiconductor chip and at least one electronic discrete device, such as, without limitation, a transistor, resistor, capacitor, inductor, oscillator, diode, or optical coupler, that are coupled to a package substrate. The semiconductor chip and the discrete device are electrically coupled to circuit patterns of the substrate, which electrically couple them to each other and to package input/output terminals disposed on a surface of the substrate. The packages may accommodate a plurality of the semiconductor chips and/or a plurality of the discrete devices.
In the exemplary embodiments, the discrete device has a height greater than a corresponding height of the semiconductor chip and the substrate. For instance, the discrete device may be 1.5 to 5 times taller than the semiconductor chip and the substrate. The semiconductor chip and the discrete device are disposed either in an aperture through the substrate or in a pocket of the substrate. The active surface of the semiconductor device and the terminals of the discrete device may be oriented in the same direction or opposite directions, and may be oriented in the same or an opposite direction as the input/output terminals on the substrate. The discrete device may be electrically coupled to the circuit patterns by an electrically conductive adhesive material, or by a layer of metal deposited over the substrate, among other possibilities.
The present invention is best understood by reference to the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.